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plant pathogen laboratory service News

That swine manure sprayed on to fields adds valuable nutrients to the soil is well known. But what is not known is whether all that manure is bringing harmful bacteria with it. A new study looks at the levels of nutrients and bacteria in soils of fields that have been sprayed with manure for fifteen years or more. The research team, composed of scientists from the USDA-ARS Crop Science Research ...

Agdia, Inc. (Elkhart, IN) has commercialized a Nucleic Acid Hybridization Assay for Avocado sunblotch viroid (ASBVd). ASBVd is found in avocado growing regions worldwide. Trees that are infected with ASBVd can result in a loss of yield and / or production of unmarketable fruit. However, symptoms are not always present making pro-active testing a critical disease control ...

Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) released its Salmonella Action Plan. It outlines the steps it will take to address the most pressing problem it faces -- Salmonella in meat and poultry products. According to the agency, an estimated 1.3 million illnesses can be attributed to Salmonella each year. ...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will provide close to $3 million in technical and financial assistance for interested farmers and ranchers to help improve the health of bees, which play an important role in crop production. The funding is a focused investment to improve pollinator health and will be targeted in five Midwestern states, ...

Stem rust disease has the potential to devastate wheat production worldwide. In the 1950s, large epidemics spread across North America and through other parts of the world. Developing a stem rust resistant gene stopped the spread of the disease. In 1999, a new race of stem rust was discovered in Uganda and identified as Ug99. Previously developed stem rust resistant genes are no longer effective ...

The American Society of Agronomy (ASA) will recognize the following individuals at the 2010 Awards Ceremony on Nov. 2 during the scientific society’s Annual Meeting in Long Beach, CA, www.acsmeetings.org. The annual awards are presented for outstanding contributions to agronomy through education, national and international service, and research. ...

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer has announced that USDA awarded more than $28 million through the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) to solve critical specialty crop agriculture issues, address priorities and solve problems through multifunctional research and extension. The Specialty Crop Research Initiative was established by the 2008 Farm Bill to support the specialty crop industry by ...